Top Baseball Prospects for 2012
Now updated for 2012's Top Prospects
Scouting Book's Top Prospects list is a Combined List, a calculated summary of the overall valuations of the entire prospect universe.
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A superior athlete with a centerfielder's speed and instincts, Mike Trout looks ready for a bright future patrolling Torii Hunter's turf. A patient hitter with a line drive stroke to all fields, he has a mature understanding of the strike zone and an ability to work it. His excellent speed and baserunning sense is ready right now, and his power seems to be arriving as hoped.
Full Scouting Report for Mike Trout
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He's six foot five with a 95mph fastball and he's... Japanese? Well, half-Japanese, at least. Darvish, the Japanese/Iranian wunderkind who's half baseball star and half sex symbol, is Japan's best young pitcher, and his upside is high enough that more than one team felt comfortable giving him a $60M contract, and that's only after spending another $50M for the right to even speak to him in the first place.
Full Scouting Report for Yu Darvish
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How many scary-good pitching prospects does any franchise need? If you're Tampa Bay, the answer appears to be 'all of them', and lefty Matt Moore fits right in with that master plan. Moore works with easy 93mph heat that has been clocked as high as 96, but it's the plus curve that makes hitters look foolish. Even his third and least mature pitch, a fading change, is much better developed than any changeup minor leaguers hitters are accustomed to dealing with. at least the team's second-best starter moving forward.
Full Scouting Report for Matt Moore
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When news broke that the Mariners had traded the 'untouchable' Michael Pineda to the Yankees, you didn't need to read the rest of the story to know which New York prospect simply had to be coming back to Seattle: there was only one worth such a high price.
Full Scouting Report for Jesus Montero
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The Cardinals first round pick in 2009, pitcher Shelby Miller is a raw but talented prospect with a wicked-hot fastball that has excellent and natural late movement. He's learning to rely on more than just his admittedly-great heat to excel in pro ball, too, so it's not surprising to see his nifty 12-6 curve frustrate batters. More exciting is the extra sink he's starting to trust on the less-explosive two-seam version of his fastball, a pitch that even good hitters will beat into the ground with abandon. With a projectable body that could probably add muscle in the years to come, he looks like a good workhorse candidate in St. Louis come late 2013 or so, though he'll probably get a look-see a bit sooner than that.
Full Scouting Report for Shelby Miller
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The fourth overall pick in the draft, righthander Trevor Bauer was overshadowed by rotation mate Gerrit Cole while at UCLA, but after turning pro he became one of the most impressive young arms anywhere in the minors, and he's a hotter ticket in our book than even Cole is today. After blowing past high-A ball last year, he found his level in AA, though he still struck out an ungodly 14 batters per nine innings even at the higher level (hey, it's more sane than the 17-per-nine he racked up in A ball.) can reach 100mph if he wishes (we promise), he doesn't actually pitch there, prefering to stay down around 94mph with great and varying movement on his selection of sliders and cutters. He's also got a good head for the game and shows an Ichiro-level commitment to stretching and conditioning exercise. It's possible he will break camp with the Diamondbacks, but with the team not hurting for starters just yet, it's possible that his real prime time won't be until midseason or even 2013.
Full Scouting Report for Trevor Bauer
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A two-way player and 2004 Little League star who most preferred as a pitcher, righthander Jurickson Profar was signed as an international free agent in 2009. At the time, the teen was blessed with a 94mph heater and a slider that could have matured into a real plus pitch, but the Rangers were determined to make a shortstop out of him, and so far it's paying off. A full season off the mound later and he's showing off every tool in the box, including a ridiculously-advanced batting eye for a teenager. In 430 at-bats in the Sally League, Profar walked more often than he struck out (65 vs 63), an incredibly rare feat among young players.
Full Scouting Report for Jurickson Profar
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Devin Mesoraco is a catching prospect who's a little late to bloom (then again, aren't they all?) in the Reds system. The 15th overall pick of the 2007 draft, Mesoraco fell off the charts for awhile after posting .260 and .228 averages in his first two full seasons of minor league ball. But a switch flipped somewhere in 2010, as Mesoraco posted a composite line of .302/.377/.587 with 26 home runs in 2010, followed by a 2011 line of 289/.371/.484 at AAA Louisville last year, complete with 15 more home runs. If the Reds seemed too eager to trade away super-prospect catcher Yasmani Grandal, there's probably no better reason than Mesoraco. He still strikes out a bit too much and can be beat by quality stuff inside, but Mesoraco suddenly looks to have very few shortcomings.
Full Scouting Report for Devin Mesoraco
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A graduate of Team USA's championship squad, Miami's Manny Machado is a well-rounded hitter who was recognized as one of baseball's best high-school shortstops in 2009. He hasn't have a lot of power yet, and there are questions about his speed, but he does have a solid-average bat and the sort of above-average footwork and soft hands that give him a decent chance of actually sticking at short. Like all shortstops from Miami, Machado is sometimes compared to Alex Rodriguez, though that might be stretching his upside a bit. So far he looks more like an idealized Yunel Escobar, and by 'future' we're talking 2014 or so. Don't be surprised if he regresses a bit coming back from his knee injury in 2011, and don't worry if he does, either. He's very young and still a long way away from MLB, so there's plenty of time for a possible break out to a higher level. Patience.
Full Scouting Report for Manny Machado
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Prospects
Top Prospects 2012
Combined Ranking
1 to 10 of 500 Prospects
